Camels Linked to Spread of Fatal Virus

By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.

September 11, 2013

Evidence is mounting that camels are the most likely intermediary in the transmission from bats to humans of the virus that causes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.

While the virus itself has not been found in a camel yet, antibodies that react to it have been discovered in the blood of camels in Sudan, Egypt, Oman and the Canary Islands. The finding suggests that the animals had recovered from infection with the MERS virus or a close relative.

While many of the 114 confirmed MERS cases have had no contact with camels, it appears that the first confirmed or suspected cases in three separate clusters may have, and in two cases, the camels were observed to be ill.

In April, the magazine Science reported that a wealthy 73-year-old Abu Dhabi man fell ill shortly after contact with a sick racing camel in his stable. He flew by private jet to Germany for treatment; after his death, doctors there said they had been told that his brother had also fallen ill after contact with the camel.

The first confirmed MERS victim, the owner of a paint warehouse in Bisha, Saudi Arabia, had four pet camels, according to Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, a virologist at Columbia University who took blood samples from them. Those tests are still being done, Dr. Lipkin said.

The unconnected welter of reports shows that surveillance for the MERS virus in the Middle East is inadequate, said Henry L. Niman, a Pittsburgh biochemist who tracks viral mutations. Not enough camels are being evaluated in the countries where human cases have been found, he said, and humans who fall ill with what might be MERS in poor countries like Sudan are not being tested.